Purpose This study investigates the drivers of Metaverse adoption to enhance the performance of retail SMEs by integrating the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework with the Knowledge-Based View (KBV). It examines how technological, organizational, and environmental factors influence Metaverse adoption intention, which, in turn, affects perceived performance. Design/methodology/approach Using PLS-SEM, we empirically validated our model with data from 465 employees across diverse Jordanian retail SMEs, collected via email surveys to ensure representation of various sectors, experience levels, and Metaverse familiarity. Findings SMEs’ intention to adopt the Metaverse is boosted by relative advantages, digital leadership, vendor support, and customer Metaverse literacy, while organizational readiness and compatibility unexpectedly reduce it. Adoption intention then improves perceived performance. Realized absorptive capacity strengthens the link between intention and performance, whereas potential absorptive capacity moderates the effects of relative advantages, compatibility, and customer literacy on adoption intention. Originality/value The current study can be considered valuable theoretical and empirical input by developing a Metaverse-enabled TOE framework that is specific to the context of retail SMEs that operate in the emergent digital economies. It is among the first to integrate the TOE and KBV frameworks to explain Metaverse adoption, offering a comprehensive understanding of the structural relationships between adoption drivers and perceived organizational performance. A key novelty lies in the inclusion of absorptive capacity, conceptualized as potential and realized, as a dual moderating mechanism that reveals how knowledge-processing capabilities can amplify or constrain the effects of adoption enablers. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-08-2025-0636
Al-Adwan et al. (2026) studied this question.